Yeah, but I didn't ask why ANYONE needed that much, just why I as a shmoe working on regular rusty cars would need that much. I understand that if someone is working on massive machinery there will be big torque numbers involved.
I think that the balancer bolt on an old Pontiac might be torqued to 150 ft lbs or so.
But I do get the logic of getting the most powerful gun you can for the money you have; that makes sense to me.
Again, because there are so many variables. Diameter of the fastener and corrosion are just two things that combine with the length of the fastener to increase drag. Take a 5/8" fastener, give it a long nut like aftermarket u-bolts have (a bolt inserted deeply into something like a crankshaft would be the same principle), then throw in some corrosion and that fastener which was torqued to 150ft lbs may take 900 ft lbs to initially break free. The larger and longer the fastener, the more surface area there is to fight you, kinda like how increasing swept area on disc brakes makes for more braking power.
But again, the ratings are not at all accurate IMO - - for real world, practical use. Thus, I believe it's very important you remember the ratings just give you a reference, but you have to get a feel for what that means within that scale. If I told you something was 100 decibels, but you had never even heard of decibels much less any sound at a given decibel level, would that mean anything to you?? In this case it's deceiving because they name their scale "foot lbs" and we think we know that means. Think of it more like 1000 draknars - - it's meaningless until you get some experience with a few different guns and note what draknar rating they give it.
And yes, the point of buying quality over ratings is an excellent one. Even if we assume the ratings are accurate (they're not), there are still subtle differences in how power is applied that can make a HUGE difference. Ever driven two cars and found you actually felt the one with a lesser hp rating actually felt more zippy? Or diesel trucks and found the one with less torque on paper actually seemed to suit your towing needs better? Same principle. One number on paper is good for bench racing (and guys use it for that all the time) but means little in the real world. The wiki article briefly alludes to that.
Finally, if you took a poll, I bet 90% of people are not running their guns at the regulated 90psi. But one guy may have his system regulated at 120 while another just runs wide open at 175. Just another variable when guys are bench racing.
